Dutch Ruppersberger: “Chairman Rogers, this is my last opportunity on the floor to thank you again for your leadership. It has, once again…”

“Chairman Rogers, this is my last opportunity on the floor to thank you again for your leadership. It has, once again, produced a strong, bipartisan, and bicameral Intelligence Authorization Act. Our committee believes that our Nation's security is too important to be a political football. We have had different views, we argue, but we work it out for the good of American people. Mr. Chairman, I hope that your legacy of bipartisanship, hard work, rigorous oversight, and problem-solving continues and spreads throughout the Congress. It is amazing what we can accomplish when we work together to solve problems. I also want to thank our counterparts in the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senators Feinstein and Chambliss, for working very closely with us and each member of our committee. On the Democratic side, I want to acknowledge all the hard work of Mr. Thompson--who is sitting here to my left--Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Langevin, Mr. Schiff, Mr. Gutierrez, Mr. Pastor, Mr. Himes, and Ms. Sewell. And I want to thank our staff and the dedicated men and women of the intelligence community who work every day and all night throughout the world to protect us. I do agree with the chairman's statements about those men and women throughout the world who are out there protecting us and putting their lives on the line. Now, today, we look beyond this Congress.…”